Suspect terrorists to be booked under POTO

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Delhi Police Commissioner Ajay Raj Sharma said that though the cases booked against the four persons arrested on suspicion of complicity in last week's terrorist attack on Parliament had been booked under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, they could shortly be re-booked under the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance(POTO).

Sharma confirmed that the terrorists were armed with AK47 assult rifles, pistols, grenades, grenade launchers, explsoives, detonators, mobile phones and six sim cards. The police chief confirmed, further, that the terrorists had carried a lot of eatables in their carrybag. "It seems to indicate that they were prepared for a long mission, which was foiled by their inability to gain entry into Parliament," the top cop said.

The police have confirmed that a sum of Rs 10 lakh was handed over to Mohammad Afzal by Mohammad, leader of the suicide squad, along with a laptop. "The money was to be kept by Mohammad Afzal and Shaukat for their use and the lap top was to be handed over to Gazi Baba," Sharma explained.
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Investigations meanwhile indicate that Syed Abdual Rehman Geelani, resident of Baramullah, had studied Quran and Arabic from a madarasa in Muzzafarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. He graduated from Lucknow and also holds an MA and M Phil from Delhi University. He joined Zakir Hussain College in 1997 as lecturer in Arabic in 1997.

Shaukat Hussain, alias Shaukat Guru, is also a graduate. He owned a truck -- No HR-38-E-6733 -- which was used to bring fruit from the Valley and sell them in Delhi. It was this truck that was used to transport the fidayeen to Delhi for the attack.